ProShare Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• ProShare Advisors increased its Blackstone stake by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, adding 13,292 shares and bringing its total holding to 164,955 shares worth about $25.4 million.
• Blackstone reported Q1 earnings of $1.36 per share, slightly ahead of estimates, while revenue came in just below expectations at $3.43 billion. Revenue still rose 10% year over year.
• The company recently paid a $1.16 quarterly dividend, equal to an annualized yield of about 4.0%, though the payout ratio was high at 118.67%.

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 164,955 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 13,292 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $25,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $151.05.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $116.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $86.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $117.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The business's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Trending Headlines about Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and Google launched a joint venture to create a new AI cloud company centered on Google’s Tensor Processing Units, expanding Blackstone’s exposure to AI infrastructure growth. Blackstone Announces Joint Venture with Google to Create New TPU Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Blackstone is committing $5 billion of equity to the venture, signaling a major investment in AI compute capacity and a potential new earnings growth avenue. Blackstone and Google form AI infrastructure joint venture focused on TPU cloud expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary suggests the Google deal is strengthening Blackstone’s competitive position in AI infrastructure and helping fuel investor optimism around the stock. Google and Blackstone to Create New AI Cloud Company. The Stocks Are Rising.
• Positive Sentiment: A large shareholder disclosed a major stock purchase, which can reinforce confidence in Blackstone’s outlook even if it is not the main day-to-day catalyst. Insider Buying: Blackstone NYSE: BX Major Shareholder Purchases 9,486,795 Shares of Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone’s digital infrastructure trust completed the underwriters’ option in full, bringing the IPO proceeds above $2.0 billion; this is supportive for the franchise but is a separate capital-markets event. Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust Announces Full Exercise and Closing of Underwriters Option to Purchase Additional Shares in Initial Public Offering
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen trimmed its price target to $133 from $140 but kept a Buy rating, which still implies upside despite a more cautious valuation view. Blackstone NYSE: BX Price Target Lowered to $133.00 at TD Cowen
• Negative Sentiment: Blackstone also gave up its pursuit of the €2.5 billion Stroeer deal, a missed acquisition opportunity that may slightly weigh on M&A sentiment. Blackstone gives up pursuit of €2.5 billion Stroeer deal - Bloomberg

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone acquired 9,486,795 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,236,000. This represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 13,502,092 shares of company stock valued at $294,789,896 and have sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.

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